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Data and Its Interpretation: Evaluating the WGBH Wine Cellar

Cathy — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:17:00 PST

If you're a mathematician, you likely think that numbers don't lie. If you're an interpreter of data, you likely think that you can get numbers to say whatever you want them to say. I am neither of those things but, when faced with data analysis of the 800+ bottles of wine in the WGBH wine cellar, I find myself impersonating each of those characters in turn. For example, to a mathematician, the inventory of the cellar breaks down like this:� 820 bottles� 329 producers� 38 varietals� 14 countries� 9...

Universities and Wine: Reprinted from the Sommelier Journal

Cathy — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 12:56:00 PST

This article by Cathy Huyghe ran on the Closing Time page of the August 2009 issue of Sommelier Journal. If you were lucky, you found them at your school too.You found that one group of people, or that one professor, or that one staff person who worked in a far-off corner of the Registrar's Office who thought 'drinking in college' should mean Pinot Noir from a glass rather than vodka from a plastic cup. For those of us lucky enough to find them it was 'so long, keg party' and 'hello, tasting ...

How many bottles of wine are in your futureoe

Dirk — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:28:00 PST

Have you ever stopped to consider how many bottles of wine are in your future? You should. It may surprise you that it isn't as many as you might think and that you should be making good choices. Recently I was at lunch with fellow winemaker, Bruce Cakebread, who said that people are getting tired of this recession and of trying to find something drinkable in the world of 'Two-Buck-Truck Econo-wines.' He did a survey and...

Nantucket Wine Festival: Another Sure Sign of Summer

Cathy — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:28:00 PST

There are certain surefire signs that summer is not far off.The sun is up before you are.You're thinking about brown-bagging lunch (we said thinking about) and finding a sunny spot outside.Your thirst for rosé and chilled whites has become suddenly overwhelming.And the Nantucket Wine Festival is just around the corner, from May 13 to 17.Ah, Nantucket.They don't have a single traffic light on the whole island. Yet their Wine Festival every May has matured into one of the year's must-attend events ...

Welcoming Back the Sun at Alchemy Bistro, Gloucester

Cathy — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 05:59:00 PST

Note: This article ran in today's Gloucester Daily Times.Is it possible to taste sunshine in a glass of wine?Goodness knows we want to, what with the break – finally – from the winter chill that until last week seemed like it would never end, and with the unseasonably warm temperatures the past few days, and with the simple and profound pleasure of mucking about with newly sockless feet.Sunshine in the sky. Sunshine on our skin. Sunshine in our glass...?Why not?Some wines have it there naturally. ...

Doing the Wine Math: Restaurants Get Creative with Their Down-Economy Wine Lists

Cathy — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 10:42:00 PST

An article by Katy McLaughlin in last Thursday's Wall Street Journal described a "wine auction" underway at the David Burke Townhouse restaurant in Manhattan. The idea is for diners to look over a list of wines ranging in price from $200 to $600, and make an offer – that is, a bid – to the sommelier. The two parties then negotiate what the diners will pay for the bottle.How's it working?Burke's wine director says he sells about five bottles a night and meets his reserve price or better.Which mea ...

Wine Lessons: Teaching Wine from Different Angles

Cathy — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:45:00 PST

Over the course of the past few weeks I have led three different groups of young people – college seniors, mostly – on a tasting session through the six universal grape varietals: sauvignon blanc, Riesling, chardonnay, pinot noir, merlot, and cabernet sauvignon. Last week, though, I led some of them from each previous session through a tasting of eight different examples of one kind of grape, namely chardonnay. We tried chardonnay in sparkling form, chardonnay from Burgundy, oaked chardonnay fro ...

Winetaster's Secrets: What Happens In Between

Cathy — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 14:51:00 PST

There's no big secret to tasting wine.You pour a glass. Notice its color. Smell the aroma. Sip. Enjoy. Or not.Pretty simple.Why, then, have multiple editions of Andrew Sharp's Winetaster's Secrets: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Joy of Winetasting been published, some of them after the author's death in 2000, since the book first appeared in 1981?It could be the "small doors" that have been opened since then that Sharp describes in his preface, into which "we have peered more deeply into the whys a ...

Spring Cleaning, With Wine: Some Tips

Cathy — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:16:00 PST

Note: This article ran in today's Gloucester Daily Times.Spring cleaning. Maybe you hate the effort. Maybe you love the satisfying after-effect. Either way, right now is the time to shake things up in the house cleaning department. For some people, that means airing out rugs dusty with winter salt, or vacuum-packing away their bulky winter sweaters. For me, it means taking inventory of the wine I have in the house. If I find that I have more bottles than room in my small wine fridge, that means ...

Blooming All Over Boston: Flowers Sure, But Rose Wines Too

Cathy — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:24:00 PST

Whether it's along Marlborough Street or deep in the Boston Common, trees and their flowers are in bloom this week. Whether it's the cherry trees that catch your eye or you have a soft spot for magnolias, the spring of the year is for many of us our favorite time to be outside in Boston.The blush of first blooms has also come inside, especially in the form of this year's crop of rosé wines. They're pushing their way forward, as wine shop owners position the rosés nearest their doors on prime (bu ...

Meet the "Futures"

Dirk — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 02:43:00 PST

Yes, we know that there is more than one "Future." In fact, this year, we have 13 "Futures." (Multiple "Futures" sounds like some sort of vino-schizophrenia.) (Did you read "Popular Science" when you were a kid? It was always predicting how we would live in the future. I don't have a flying car...and I could use one! They never mentioned the internet...) You get the idea, they were wrong. (but it was fun to read and ...

Screw That: Debating the Highs and Lows of Stelvin Closures. A.K.A. Screwcaps

Cathy — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:47:00 PST

By Adam CentamoreThe sight of a bottle of red Bordeaux with a screw cap can be a little discombobulating, almost upsetting to some wine connoisseurs. What self-respecting winemaker would allow a top vintage from their cellar to sport such an ordinary appendage? The answer is more and more of them. And for those who vilify the tidy, efficient aluminum cap, a vinicultural day of reckoning is coming. The Stelvin closure, as it is officially called, has been a point of contention since it first appe ...

Wine Riot! A Chance to Learn About Wine, Sans Snobbery

Cathy — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 09:28:00 PST

By Courtney HumphriesWine-tasting events sometimes bring to mind a stuffy atmosphere, pretentious sellers, and incomprehensible wine-speak. An event in Boston aimed to topple that image, appealing to a younger crowd eager to educate themselves about wine without the added attitude. The Wine Riot, held April 17th and 18th at The Cyclorama in Boston's South End, sought to bring a casual, irreverent attitude to wine tasting and education. The event was presented by The Second Glass, a print and onl ...

Wines from England (Yes, England): A Place to STart

Cathy — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 13:36:00 PST

The thing about being a wine lover is that when you throw a party, your guests have a pretty good idea of what to bring as a hostess gift.It's especially appreciated when a guest brings a wine that is somehow relevant to them or to your relationship. A bottle of bubbly you particularly enjoyed the last time you were together, for example. Or an obscure Riesling when they know Riesling is your grape-du-jour.Or a few bottles from a vineyard located just down the road from them when – this is the k ...

Earthquake Relief, Boston Style: 33 Restaurant and Tomasso Trattoria

Cathy — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 19:09:00 PST

Last week, news of the earthquake in the Abruzzo region of Italy hit certain parts of Boston pretty hard. Which is what you'd expect, since Italy ranks way up there – second, in fact – when it comes to local residents' ancestral homes.Neighborhoods huddled together.Relatives worried. Some mourned.Politicians sent condolences.Relief funds were set up.And then restaurants and wine shops started doing what it is they do, to pay tribute to Abruzzo.All this week, Tomasso Trattoria in Southborough wil ...

"Counterculture," and Not in a Good Way: Australian Chard at the BCAE

Cathy — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:04:00 PST

"Counterculture."That's how our WSET instructor described Petaluma in the Piccadilly Valley of South Australia during class at the BCAE tonight."Counterculture" for the Piccadilly Valley and its chardonnay may refer to the area's defiantly cool climate, or it may refer to the novelty that chardonnay was in Australia when Brian Croser of Petaluma staked out the area in the 1970s.Maybe it was that set-up influencing my reaction to the 2007 Petaluma Chardonnay, but I smelled the wine and right away ...

Bidding on the Past: Fine Wine Auction at WGBH

Cathy — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 12:15:00 PST

I never meant to buy anything.I went to the WGBH fine wine auction a few weeks ago as an interested observer. I had written a few articles about the new WGBH studio in Brighton, and I loved the fact that it is probably the only public broadcasting station in the country with its own wine cellar. I was rooting for a good turn-out, and for a good profit for the station. My function was merely as cheerleader.But then the bidding started. And Marie Keep of Skinner Inc. auction house, in the role of ...

The Case for Drinking Alone

Cathy — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 11:39:00 PST

A few weeks ago I wrote about Suzanne Pirret and her incredibly entertaining cookbook called The Pleasure is All Mine: Selfish Food for Modern Life. Last week, as I was browsing the food and wine stacks in the library of the French Library Alliance Française of Boston, on Marlborough Street, I found the French equivalent: Brigitte Namour's Moi, je cuisine solo ou duo: Recettes rapides et menus malins.Where it concerns wine, the two books had this in common: it wasn't the primary focus, but food- ...

Where To Go to Get Out of Your Rut: Grand Trunk Old World Market, Newburyport

Cathy — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:18:00 PST

Browsing the wine and beer collection at the Grand Trunk Old World Market in Newburyport is like browsing the bookshelves of a few very eccentric librarians. They know their subject matter and its traditional best-sellers thoroughly; they just choose to carry instead on the unique, the untested, the hard-to-find, and the "child prodigies" of their business.In other words, it's the place to go to get you right out of a wine or beer rut.Sure, there's a selection of wines from Burgundy; but they're ...

When Romanee Conti from 1934, 1945, and 1953 is Not the Most Important Part of the Meal: A Used BookStore Find

Cathy — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 11:09:00 PST

"A man dies too young if he leaves any wine in his cellar." – André L. SimonA used bookseller I know usually sets 20 or 25 books on two small bookcases just outside his front door, for casual passers-by to peruse and possibly purchase. The bookseller changes the theme frequently – Cape Cod ecology in the summer, Updike novels when he passed away, how-to-entertain manuals around the holidays – but this week the theme was wine, food and cocktails.I stopped to peruse.What caught my eye first was a ...